mindful eating Archives - Page 3 of 3

May 17, 2017 By Geetika Patni 7 Comments

Mindful eating: Control portions and be wise! – Part 3

My previous two blogs talked of the concept of Mindful eating and how mindless Eating can be harmful. In my second blog, I talked of why should you eat slowly to enjoy your meal (https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-slow-down-and-enjoy-your-meal-2/) and shared some tips on how can you eat slowly. Continuing in this 5 Part series on Mindful Eating, Today, I will take you through portion control and why is portion control a must.

Appetite is complex and dieting is a challenge.

With every passing year it gets more harrowing. We end up blaming the food industry which has, over the years, increased portions per package and per serving size by whopping 2-7 times than recommended value. And, mostly these take away food products and dishes themselves don’t fit in a healthy eating plan.

Mindful eating is the key to fix this chaos. For when we can’t change anyone else (read: food industry) we can still change ourselves.

The art of being in present when you are eating your food is termed as Mindful eating. Eating mindfully has tremendous benefits- you really learn to taste food and realize your real favourites and dislike thus knowing what foods best fuel your exercise, work and leisure. If you enjoy eating or your food experience, you tend to enjoy life better. The by-product of this mindfulness is also a healthy weight loss and maintenance, and even reversal of lifestyle disorders.

Among the many advantages of this healthy practice my favourite one is- Learning to eat when hungry and stop when full, so avoiding overeating at any given time. I have maintained my weight for years by effectively practicing portion control.

This is difficult, yet the easiest way to lose weight, keep it off and moreover, it’s a lifestyle change, something that can change this whole obesity epidemic. We all struggle with food. This may be the solution to eating our favourite food, yet controlling the portions and being fair to our bodies.

Portion control is easily achieved when you slow down your pace of eating. When you eat slowly you become aware of when your stomach gets full and you also know how much to serve yourself and when to stop. Portion size and eating speed can be well explained through the famous ‘French Paradox’ which says that despite high intake of calorie-rich and fatty foods in France as compared to the US, the incidence of heart disease and overweight is relatively low in France.

It is well-documented fact that the French eat much slower than the Americans thus ending up taking smaller portions. Sensible eating, therefore, works miraculously for the weight-watchers.

In this blog, I am sharing some good tricks and hacks that will help you prevent over eating and the need to diet ever.

When you first go through the list, pick up only 2 tasks which you can practice as your healthy habits. As you succeed, take up new ones gradually and implement them consistently to build in mindful eating approach for life.

Here’s how to practice portion control-

A) At home or for your regular eating

Replace your food plates to small plates or use a side plate as your main plate. The food portion has grown bigger, by choosing a small plate (law of size-metrics) you will reduce your consumption.

Serve backwards- visualize your plate has 2 compartments. First fill up one half of it with veggies, both raw and cooked and then serve other half of your plate with portion of proteins (dal/curd) and carbs (rice/roti) combined. Eating veggies make you feel full so serving it first on your plate and eating in larger portion quickly drives up the fullness quotient.

Sit Down to eat- even if it is a snack. You are making your meal more organized by sitting down when dining and this habit will prevent on the go munching that you may be un-knowingly overdoing.

Deep breathe- before you start your meal. This works as ‘ringing the bell’ –brings your attention to your next to-do task which is feeding yourself. Gently Inhale through nose, filling your chest with air, drawing your shoulder upwards and exhale through mouth for a little longer. Now take your first bite or sip.
Dine! Don’t multitask- Eating while watching TV or while fiddling with your cell phone will distract you from your meal. And distraction will lead to over consumption. Put away all gadgets while eating and you’ll be surprised that going back to your smart phone after 20 minutes is so refreshing. Plus, the added bonus of having a satisfying meal.
Have liquid first- A glass of water or a bowl of healthy soup. Starting your meal with fluids will fill up your belly to prevent over eating. It will irrigate the lining of your digestive tract making your meals easier to flow down. And, probably quench your thirst which may be the real reason behind your rumbling belly.
Eat slowly- to finish a meal in no less than 20 minutes. You may realize you don’t need the second helping if you eat your meals slowly.
Get Smart with leftovers: Because no one is judging how clean your plate is. If you are done with dinner, don’t stuff yourself just so that you don’t have to pack up the remaining food. Wrapping up remaining food is a smart way (as leftovers taste better too!) or downsizing your cooking is another idea to prevent over consumption.
Snack from a bowl– and not from a bag or box. You may end up eating 50% more if the snack, you are having, is hidden from your view. Pour a serving in a bowl and then munch.

#And if you buy a bag of trail mix that reads 10 servings, divide the contents of the bag into 10 smaller bags or label it bold- ‘to be finished in 10 attempts’.

Out of sight-out of mouth- Keep tempting treats- chips, cookies, and candies, ice creams out of sight – high up in the kitchen cabinet or in the back line of the pantry shelf. Putting a fruit bowl, dark chocolate, dates and nuts in the front row and in reach easily gets you to practice snacking.

Follow IN/OUT rule: When at home, the rule is to eat nutritious, balanced and wholesome meals avoiding all treats (White Sugar/breads/pastas/creamy desserts and fried foods). When outside treat yourself to your favourite delicacies (but in moderation lest you slip down the slope). This way you will be able to eat super healthy most of the time and the occasional indulgences will soothe your soul.

Here are few suggestions to practice portion control outside home

When dining out-

Plan Ahead- Right when you start from home, put up a portion in head- “I’ll have only 2 glass of wine today”, “I’ll eat only 1 plate of pasta tonight”. When a plan is there, you only need to work on your determination during the action, so it makes sense to make a quick portion note prior to stepping out.
Survey the spread first (or read menu carefully)- By getting a sense of what are the foods available, you avoid heaping on excess of usual offerings because you didn’t realize earlier -the ‘can’t miss items’ were at the end of the line. So make your plate with intention and eat only what you really want to eat.
Order to serve your salad or soup first and entree only after the appetizers are done with. A lot of food on table and in sight will promote over eating.
Split and Share –the entrée with your dining partner, but If eating alone, try doubling up your appetizer and skipping the main course altogether.
Indulge wisely- If you intend to end your meal with drinks or dessert, eat only half of your capability. Yes, it’s your treat meal! But, a firm moderation now will prevent you from guilt trip later.
Split and share desserts too- or skip it totally and order yourself an un-sweetened coffee/hot beverage to end the meal. Some metabolic push there! Plus you can always have a cube of dark chocolate when you reach home.
If Ice cream melts you away-Choose inedible dishes- say a cup over a cone, as your ice cream serving dish. Or if cone gets you carried away, choose a kiddie, regular or sugar cone, as waffle cone will increase your portion considerably. Avoid toppings or go for fruit based ones.
Tall and slim- Research says drinking from tall and slim glass will cut down portion of your drink by 20%, and so does avoiding exotic mixed liquor drinks. It’s that easy!
And if you are travelling- Avoid heading to a restaurant directly. Instead take a pit stop at a fruit vendor first. A healthy snack before a meal will not spoil it, but help you portion mindfully.

Eating in moderation and compensating with a good round (or extra round) of exercising keeps one in balance. Avoid Overeating and practice mindfulness- your ideal weight is just this one healthy habit away!

In my fourth blog tomorrow, I shall talk about emotional eating. Very often we find ourselves overeating or better to say indulge in mindless eating such as stress eating. Too happy indulge in over eating, too sad again indulge in over eating to feel good. The blog will take you through some pointers on how to avoid stress eating and satisfy your needs with mindfulness.

To be continued………….

May 16, 2017 By Geetika Patni 7 Comments

Mindful Eating: Slow down and enjoy your meal-2

In my previous blog, I talked about the concept of Mindful Eating and how often we instead of being mindful become mindless.(https://goqii.com/blog/mindful-eating-the-best-habit-ever/).Mindless eating is when we overeat, eat fast, do some emotional eating while we are not really hungry and disconnect with food. The first blog summarised the fact that it is extremely important to make the ‘connect’ with your food choices. Attempt to learn or acknowledge the ingredients of the dish you are eating, which food group it belongs to, combining it in ways you can enhance (or deplete) it’s nutritional quotient, and most importantly how you truly feel having it.

Today, I am going to talk about the art of eating slow. Eating is a biologically natural and pleasurable act of nourishment.

More often than not, most of us may not even recall everything that we ate in last few hours, let alone-the sensation associated with it. That is largely because we indulge in other things most times along with eating – working, driving, reading, watching television, surfing the net, social networking or simultaneously feeding a child, a pet or an emotion.

This act of mindless eating –lack of awareness of the food we are consuming- may becontributing to the national obesity epidemic and the lifestyle diseases and disorders prevalent around.

Mindful eating is nothing but, an act of eating our food with attention. Sensing the flavours, recognizing the ingredients and enjoying the dish and thus feeling gratitude towards the meal. Following mindful eating pattern you will not only reverse your weight issues, but also fix them up for life.

Eating fast is a habit in disorder. If you eat fast, you are just one step away from digestive troubles, weight gain and other metabolic dysfunctions. Here is what happens when you eat fast?

One is you skip the first step of digestion of the food, which happens when enzymes in the saliva break down the morsels when you are chewing them. This Bolus which is softened food morsel is much easier to get digested by the acids of the stomach.

Second -since you are rushing through– large chunks of undigested food is filling up your stomach- too much and too quickly. The stretch receptors of your stomach are slow acting fibres (can’t help -that is how they are made!) so when they can’t match up with the speed, the spill over happens,leading to acid reflux, burn in the chest, food regurgitation, and acid after taste in mouth.

What is supposed to be an act of pleasure turns out to be a painful experience!

Third-The delicate hormonal cross talk which happens between hunger, satiety and fullness hormones doesn’t happen that smoothlywhen you are gobbling down your meal, leaving one having more food but yet not satisfied.

That is why adopting slow eating as a good habit for life is necessary, to eliminate the digestive disorders, fix up weight struggles and feel satisfied with our meals, with our life.

In this article, I’ll share ways to build up your innate capability to eat slowly.As you’ll go down the pointers, pick up only one or two that you can follow easily and when you return back to this article, gradually learn more ways to practice slow eating as way of life.

Here are some tips to help you eat slowly

Chew well: Digestion of your food begins from the mouth. Gulping down your food will prevent your stomach to match up with your tongue. And, do you also know that you can’t taste your food until its mixed with saliva. Hence chewing your food thoroughly not only improves digestion but enhances perceptibility of the falvor of your food as well.

To practice chewing well and long, take smaller bites and designate number of chew per bite. Anything more than your current number till you reachover20 is perfect. 20 seconds to every chew is also a wise idea.

Engage all your sense while eating: Sniffing the food morsel before putting it in your mouth and appreciating its taste brings in more satisfaction from the food. Also notice colours in your food and feel its texture in your mouth. Chew well then and you’ll find yourself turning into a slow eeater automatically.

Deep breathe after every few bites: By following this tip, you’ll buy some more time for your tummy to assimilate all the previous morsels. The excess O2 taken in by extra breathing will also aid in better oxidation of the fats in the food.

Add fibers to your meal-They take a long time to chew. Crunching salads after every few bites will additionally supply raw enzymes to digest cooked portions of your meals.

Take intermission break- Putdown your spoon and fork once your done with half your meal. This break can last till you have finished a mini conversation or taken 24-30 breaths.

# Or push away from table, get up for the second helping, take some sips of water in between, to take a break.

Pace with a slow eater-Rather than a ferocious one. We unconsciously imitate people we are close to. So eating with a slow eater will also slow you down.

Use non dominant hand to eat or use chopsticks for a week-If you make the task difficult it automatically forces you to pace down.

Eat with a baby spoon/fork: By law of volume metrics, eating with a baby spoon will put a speed breaker on your food ride.
Work up your food:Shell your pistachios or peanuts or seeds and peel your oranges yourself. Shelling, peeling or individual unwrapping of your snack will also help slow you down and reduce the tendency to over consume any snack.

Refuel-every 3-4 hours: Keeping long gaps between meals will prevent you from following slow eating, as mind is weak in the knees when we are famished. Hence, eat frequently to prevent over eating and practice slow eating at any meal time.

Practicing slow eating takes time. If you are a super fast eater, and you are trying these methods to change your habit for good, don’t punish yourself if you don’t succeed in the first few weeks. Try and try till you succeed. And, if you still fail, take help of your coach, to make you practice and push towards rewiring your old habit into a new one of slow mindful eating.

In my next blog in this five part series, I will be talking about Portion Control. I shall share some good tricks and hacks which will help you prevent over eating and the need to diet ever.

To be continued …………..

May 15, 2017 By Geetika Patni 8 Comments

Mindful Eating: The best habit ever!

Most humans eat more than their bodies require. Especially with the massive choice of culinary delights available, the eye appealing desserts, the way food is plated etc…it works on our minds to a level that we crave it. And that’s OK. Everyone loves good food too, who doesn’t.

The problem is, we eat too much of it and there reaches a point when the body does not know what to do with the crazy amounts of food we eat, so when you see your belly/tummy, mid riff, waist starting to expand, that’s your body telling you, ‘you are eating too much’.

What next? Fad Diets? Time and again it has been proved that fad diets don’t work. With a fad diet plan, you will lose weight –and gain it back eventually, and in between you may end up even damaging your metabolism, digestion and your wonderful relationship with food.

But then isn’t it true? that ‘Abs are made in the Kitchen’ and that ‘Weight Management is 70% nutrition’. Indeed it is! The hidden answer to this dilemma lies in – Mindful Eating.

Technical definition says, “Mindful eating is allowing yourself to become aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities that are available through food selection and preparation by respecting your own inner wisdom”.

In easier terms- It is an art of staying aware of, not only-what you are eating, but also how you are eating. In this article, I’ll help you understand the broad prospects of nurturing yourself with the art of mindful eating. And to do so, let’s first understand the contradiction – Mindless eating.

You are eating mindless when you are-

1) Overeating (Unable to practice portion control) –

Over eating is the most common act of mindless eating and in my experience, 90% of the players who want to lose weight – overeat during one or the other meal.

Portion control is very important but why is practicing portion control so difficult? That’s because we miss recognizing the internal cues our body provides (and yes it does send those signals!) to make us stop eating when it’s time. And why does this happen? That’s because we fail to pay attention to the task we are doing, in this context it is – eating. Implementing simple habits like keeping away gadgets while eating, using smaller plates, and taking a deep breath before you start your meal, can help you to practice portion control effectively.

2) Eating Fast

This one doesn’t need an example. If you are a fast eater you know it. Eating at your best speed to win a 1 minute food challenge is entirely different than doing it every day for every meal. Eating fast can also lead to weight gain and metabolic disorders like insulin resistance and arthritis. Small discomforts such as teeth bites and ulcers in the mouth, dental cavities, and acne outbursts can also be traced back to the habit of eating fast. And you may be blaming your gassy gut to your food choices, but do ponder upon if it’s related to your speed of eating too. Ideally you must aim to finish every meal in 20 minutes. This is the time range for our fullness hormones-Leptin, Ghrelin and some neuropeptides-to reach our brain and signal the satiety centre to feel full and stop eating.

Tricks like taking an intermission break after every few bites, using your non dominant hand to eat, chewing every bite thoroughly (32 times is dramatic, I know, 20 will do), using chopsticks for a change and/or using baby forks/spoons to finish your meal, can help you learn the art of eating slow and mindfully.

3) Emotional Eating

Emotional eating is as simple as the term sounds – eating to fulfil an emotion and not the stomach. It is also termed as ‘Head hunger’. If your hunger feels sudden and urgent and you have a craving for only fries or sugary treats, you can’t stop yourself to eat and then feel guilty afterwards, it is Head hunger- caused by emotions like boredom, anger, frustration, anxiety etc.

On the other hand if you are ‘Stomach Hungry’ you will know it easily for it will come gradually and you can still postpone it. There will be a stomach growl and it will get satisfied with any food (yes even salads!) You won’t feel guilty even after eating it heartily. And best part is you’ll know when to stop when you are feeding your body (but cannot- when fuelling your emotions).

Staying mindful of your hunger triggers and enjoying the meals to nourish your system, rather than feelings, is important, as this can make or break your relationship with food. Emotional eating whereas can cultivate poor self-esteem, unwanted weight gain and the plethora of troubles related to Obesity. Overcoming emotional eating requires a good amount of practice, patience and discipline and some tricks like distraction through work to pass off the emotional storm.

4) Disconnecting

Eating each and every food that you can lay your hands on, without making a choice is what I call as ‘Disconnecting’. That’s odd! This doesn’t correlate.

Let me explain- If you belong to a club excelling in eating each and every ‘thing’ without knowing what it can do to you, where it came from and without acknowledging the feelings it produce in you (whether good or bad) you are disconnected from your foods, your meals and your nourishment-the very thing which helps you run your day and which prevents you from sufferings and sicknesses.

Disconnecting is a very subtle mindless eating practice but has profound effect on your weight and most importantly on your vital organs and their metabolic functioning. (Like a seemingly harmless can of diet-coke can wreak havoc on your pancreas and production of Insulin!)

Moreover, as we age, the mindless habit of Disconnecting does rapid harm to our system, to the extent of jeopardizing our longevity!

Hence, it is extremely important to make the ‘connect’ with your food choices. Attempt to learn or acknowledge the ingredients of the dish you are eating, which food group it belongs to, combining it in ways you can enhance (or deplete) it’s nutritional quotient, and most importantly how you truly feel having it.

In this 5 part series on ‘Mindful Eating’, I will take you through all the aspects of Mindful eating. In the second part tomorrow I will talk about slowing down while eating, how helpful can it be and some tips to help you eat slowly.

In essence, food is meant to be enjoyed and to nourish you. Adding the seasoning of Mindful eating to it, will pique up your health and wellness quotient.

To be Continued…………………

August 20, 2014 By Luke Coutinho Leave a Comment

Use this tool to eat Right and Lose Weight

The concept of weight gain and weight loss will always remain the same, irrespective of any new theories on molecular science and diet, blood group diets, fad exercise programs, restrictive diets etc.

‘ Your body will only use how much it needs of the food you eat, for it’s functions Anything extra will get stored away, leading to possible fat gain’.

If you are very hungry, and your only option is a slice of pizza, you should eat it. Your body will break it down for the energy it needs.

What it may not be able to do is break down a couple of slices of pizza, with a portion of pasta and a tiramisu. It may if you’ve just burnt like 1500 cals and your body is craving replenishment of energy.

It is all about controlling your food portions. How much is enough for your body?

Only you can tell by being aware. Eating 2-3 rotis at night or at lunch is probably out of habit. It’s what you have done since you were growing up. But the situations are different. You ate more when you were probably more active and younger with a quicker metabolism.

Things change. Everything changes, including the way your body works and breaks down food, year on year.

What if your body really can do with just 1 roti instead of 3?

What if your body can do with a small scoop of ice cream instead of a large or super-sized portion?

What if you really don’t need 6 small meals in a day?

What if you could still enjoy your dessert or piece of cake, but share it, so you don’t get into a deprivation mode?

‘ Your not exercising sufficiently, your not using all this excess energy that you are feeding me ‘

And what takes months or even years to develop into abdominal fat, as humans we always want things to happen for us quickly. Instant gratification, Instant results, and then we get crazy and desperate to lose that tummy, choosing options that can create more harm than good for the other parts of our body.

We get into intensive exercises, and damage our knees and backs..we get on crazy diets and lose a little weight along with bone density, and key nutrients.

PORTION CONTROL is difficult, yet the easiest way to lose weight, keep it off and moreover, it’s a lifestyle change, something that can change this whole obesity epidemic. We all struggle with food. This may be the solution to eating our favorite food, yet controlling the portions and being fair to our bodies.

When my friend Vishal Gondal brought back a portion control plate from the U.S to show the entire GOQii team, I had a look at it and realized, this is what India needs.

Such a simple tool that will teach people how to eat, How much to eat without feeling deprived.

It can teach children all about the right portions that they should serve themselves, and I envision families using this portion control plate to serve themselves and build a culture of eating clean and right.

I used one for a month, serving myself everyday using this portion plate and at first I thought the quantity was too less, but quickly figured I was eating more than I needed. I used a 1 cup portion serving for a few days and then cut back to a half cup serving at dinner.

Like all habits, it took a few days getting used to, but all I can say now is, I am eating lesser for sure and I don’t feel hungry after doing this.

It beats all fat loss pills, which anyway never work. This teaches you to eat the right way and anything that works towards making a shift in your lifestyle, is worth it, is sustainable and is the right way to go.

Once you get into the habit of controlling your portions and knowing how much your body really needs, you then begin to automatically apply the same when you eat out.

You can try this simple yet effective tool to change the way you eat and control or lose weight.

Moreover, using this will ensure you eat a balanced meal of carbs, protein, fats and veggies.

Get it at: http://purenutrition.co.in/meal-measure.html

Mindful eating: Control portions and be wise! – Part 3

Mindful Eating: Slow down and enjoy your meal-2

Mindful Eating: The best habit ever!

Use this tool to eat Right and Lose Weight

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